First off all Dunc and Kev partnership just does not work, they are too much alike, they are slow, their work rate is not there.

With those two up front, we are not playing any football whatsoever.

For our midfield, we've got no ball players that can take control of the midfeild and make us play some good football no flare whatsoever. We have not got one midfielder that you can say is going to be a regular goal scorer. We might have Gazza but we don't know how long he is going to last.

We have got a very ordinary midfeild, we need some big changes.

Tom Hardy,

Childwall

Liverpool

Derby despair>

In all the years I have been following Everton, I cannot remember a time when the gulf between us and Liverpool has been so great. In the Derby match we were outplayed in every department, but particularly in defence where Abel Xavier was a lumbering disgrace and Unsworth looked amateurish to say the least.

Only Watson and Weir seemed to have anything like what it takes to stand up to a highly mobile front line (and even then, they were caught out on occasion).

Ferguson started well, but flagged in the second half, as you got the feeling that smart defences can learn quickly how to combat his ariel threat. Campbell should have scored a couple more than he did, but we didn't deserve anything out of the game. Only Gascoigne and Radzinski hinted that better things might be possible.

What can we do about it? Not a lot. The gulf in class is entirely down to the funds available to the clubs. Liverpool have all the money they need, and a quality squad that refletcs it.

Everton are broke and have to make do with second best in all departments. That's the reality of the modern game, and not even the passions roused by a derby match can do much to counteract it.

Paul Connolly

Cookham

Berkshire

War of words>

I don't know if I am alone in this, but I am getting fed up with Mr. Houllier making public his views about Evertonians and in effect demonising decent supporters.

His most recent comments appeared in the press on Saturday morning before the game with Liverpool. Apparently, he had decided Evertonians would give Barmby such abuse that it was "unsafe" for him to even travel to Goodison. This outrageous statement in National newspapers was compounded further by comments which suggested that Evertonians would not have sufficient gravitas given the tragedy in the USA last week. Liverpool supporters, by implication, are the personification of tact (especially when they play Man Utd).

I do not deny that Barmby has been villified by a small MINORITY of Evertonians, but Houllier has tarnished us all with the same brush (there was no qualification of his remarks in the articles I read).

Apparently he did not consult with his Chairman before making his comments or dropping Barmby. I think he would have been wise to have done so. Not only has he pandered to the mindless minority, he has directly contributed to what seems to be an ever deepening enmity and he has raised still further the temperature in a negative way for future games.

He would be much better employed working with his management team and that of Everton's to reverse the poor spirit in which recent games between the clubs have been played (starting with eradicating the "over the top" behaviour of players like Steven Gerrard: who did not seem to have been told of his manager's desire for everyone to play with the due respect the occasion merited and who instead acted in a moronic fashion, having scored what was in truth an excellent goal).

I for one condemn Mr. Houllier's comments as insensitive, inappropriate and plain propaganda.

Steve Guy

Liverpool

Ferguson out>

Get rid of Ferguson, he did nothing the last time we had him!

Long balls directed down the middle all the time is a waste of all the other talent we have on the club... utilize it...

Anthony Todd

Canada

Smith out!!!>

It is obvious what Smith must do to improve matters at Everton. Leave! After three years we are in a worse state than before he came. The problems we had when he arrived - a porous defence, an unimaginative, uncreative midfield and a blunt strike force - not one of them have been solved.

He has built a second rate squad playing amateurish football. We never even got out of first gear on Saturday and never looked likely to. The last three years, which should have been a period of transition, have been completely wasted while Smith flounders.

Peter Fearon

West Derby

Liverpool

Game of chance>

We cannot be expected to beat any team with two under performing players and on Saturday we had four. Walter must give Simonson a chance, he has to be better then Gerrard, who looks and plays as if he's no confidence.

Unsworth shouldn't play again for us. Alexanderson doesn't give us any thing going forward, and defensively!! Some one please explain that part of the game to him.

Please don't replace him with Tal as he's even worse. Xavier, now I know it's his first match back but he went AWOL after the first five mins!!.

Walter must give the likes of Hibbert, Chadwick, Mcleod, and Clarke a chance before someone else does, your days, if you don't, as manager are numbered

Phil Arundel

Castleford

Out of shape>

What a game, I/we travelled all the way from Southampton this weekend to see the blues stuff the kopites and what happens Smithy plays a defensive team with his oh so familiar wingbacks !!

Walter when are you going to revert back to the good old fashion 4-4-2. A formation Everton know and play best. Poor old Dunc was so frustrated everything was being lumped up to him from the centre... so what's the point of the wingbacks?

Even Kevin Campbell was getting frustrated at one point and started to jump with big Dunc. Kev your job is to hit the net...and not the keeper.

Come on Walter and Archie lets get back to basics and stop playing all these defensive players. With Gazza (what a show), Radzinski and young Hibbert on at half time we started to make a play well and could have won it.

Lets get busy Walter, listen to the Evertonians, 4-4-2's the game and maybe we will finish in the top half of the League

Tom Carr

Southampton

Keeper trouble>

Everton desperately need a top quality goalkeeper, a creative midfielder (other than Gazza, who is surely in his last season), and players who actually want to receive the ball, and won't treat it like a hot potato to be got rid of as soon as possible.

Dean King

Neath

(Exiled Blue)

Reality bites>

The Liverpool game was a reality check for us Evertonians who through our blue blood and dream believing, were brought down to earth with a sickening thud!! No vision, no guile, no creativity (except the latter years of mr gascoine) no strength in squad depth... two injuries and we are a mess.

But most of all no money. I feel all we have is the undying devotion to our club by all true blue noses...and hoping through all this collective hope and energy, we can make something happen!! But all that hope and energy was sapped from us against the old enemy of all people, and reality has certainly now set in...

Even to our most die hard blues... my message is now a simple one, yes directed at the board... rejuvenate this club now with some verve just as passionate as those true fans !!!

Exciled Blue

John Connor

New Jersey, USA.

Money matters>

How long will Evertonians whine over the lack of money our club has. There are numerous clubs who are successful who have not had millions pumped into them. Ipswich is the classic example of an excellent manager/coach who can get the best out of his players. Everton need a manager/coach with the ability to produce a team that can utilise the players at hand, and encourage young new talent to emerge.

Smith prefers the experienced option at every turn, and his reluctance to rely on the emerging young players is worrying. Why not move to a coach who has proved himself, Wim Jansen, the ex-Celtic coach. He brought the end of Rangers dominance in Scotland with limited resources, and Wim Jansen could excel where Smith has been mediocre.

Howard James

Leeds

Warning signs>

So the optimism of the early games has, predictably enough, evaporated. At least we have beaten the teams we must beat to reach mid table respectability and the buffer of seven points should carry us through to the next sequence of winnable fixtures, if such things exist.

A few things are very obvious to me at this early stage;

1/ This may sound flippant but it is not intended to be.Why can't we get rid of those ridiculous long, baggy shorts.They make our players look like slovenly sunday morning hackers and this must give an immediate psychological boost to our generally more sensibly attired opponents.

I believe that these shorts must be an impediment to the mobility of all players who wear them.I don't advocate a return to the swimming trunks of the early eighties, merely to a more sensible cut that give free rein to the natural athleticism of premiership footballers.

2/ Too many of our players seem uncomfortable in possession and unable to kill a ball dead upon receipt of it.This should not be happening on what presumably, is a very true surface.It is difficult to credit that such presumably top grade players cannot receive, coax and distribute a ball with anything like the facility displayed by a rusty Gasciogne on Saturday.The disparity between ourselves and Liverpool in this department was frightening.

3/ The general lack of creativity by our midfielders has been much remarked upon over recent seasons.Clearly, financial restraints prevent us from recruiting a Veron or anything like him. However, within our meagre resources we must continue to scour the market for a player who is capable of doing at least a few unpredictable things in 90 minutes.For the moment, we must always look to play Gascoigne when fit.Additionally, Radzinski looks worth a start more often than not.